Abstract
Negative perceptions of aging and older adulthood, including the idealization of youth, are common in the United States. Past work has found that holding negative perceptions of aging is closely associated with poor mental and physical health consequences, yet few studies have examined how these perceptions impact day-to-day experiences. The current study had two objectives: (1) investigate whether age discrepancy (specifically desiring to be younger than one’s chronological age) was related to daily negative affect and (2) examine whether this relationship changed as participants aged over time. We utilized the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) diary study, a longitudinal measurement burst study with three waves of 8-day daily diaries indexing approximately 20 years. Participants (N = 2398; Mage [baseline] = 46.85, SD = 12.24; 54.7% women; 92.4% White) reported their desired age as well as daily negative affect at each wave. Using multilevel modeling, we examined whether age discrepancy predicted daily negative affect across 3 waves of observation. Results supported a significant relationship between age discrepancy and daily negative affect. However, no interactions among age discrepancy and baseline age or time across study were found. This suggests that the relationship between age discrepancy and daily negative affect was consistent across waves and participants over a 20-year period and provides evidence for the pernicious effect of deidentifying with one’s real age on daily life. Daily experiences can act as potential risk or protective factors and shape developmental trajectories. Reducing ageism through societal interventions or increasing personal acceptance of aging through targeted interventions are two potential pathways of promoting health and well-being across the lifespan.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Of the 2,398 total participants, n = 1,646 (68.6%) completed all three waves of data collection, n = 473 completed two waves (19.7%), and n = 279 only completed one wave (11.6%).
References
Åberg, E., Kukkonen, I., & Sarpila, O. (2020). From double to triple standards of ageing. Perceptions of physical appearance at the intersections of age, gender and class. Journal of Aging Studies, 55, 100876. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2020.100876
Allen, J. O. (2016). Ageism as a risk factor for chronic disease. The Gerontologist, 56, 610–614. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnu158
Allen, J. O., Solway, E., Kirch, M., Singer, D., Kullgren, J., & Malani, P. (2020). Everyday ageism and health. University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/156038. Accessed 19 Jul 2021.
Baltes, P. B. (1987). Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline. Developmental Psychology, 23, 611–626. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.23.5.611
Baltes, P. B. (1997). On the incomplete architecture of human ontogeny: Selection, optimization, and compensation as foundation of developmental theory. American Psychologist, 52, 366–380. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.52.4.366
Baumann, S., & de Laat, K. (2012). Socially defunct: A comparative analysis of the underrepresentation of older women in advertising. Poetics, 40, 514–541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2012.08.002
Burnes, D., Sheppard, C., Henderson, C. R., Wassel, M., Cope, R., Barber, C., & Pillemer, K. (2019). Interventions to reduce ageism against older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 109, e1–e9. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305123
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Health and economic costs of chronic diseases. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/costs/index.htm. Accessed 19 Jul 2021.
Charles, S. T., & Carstensen, L. L. (2010). Social and emotional aging. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 383–409. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100448
Charles, S. T., Leger, K. A., & Urban, E. J. (2016). Emotional experience and health: What we know, and where to go from here. In A. D. Ong & C. E. Löckenhoff (Eds.), Emotion, aging, and health (pp. 185–204). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14857-010
Charles, S. T., Piazza, J. R., Mogle, J., Sliwinski, M. J., & Almeida, D. M. (2013). The wear and tear of daily stressors on mental health. Psychological Science, 24, 733–741. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612462222
Charles, S. T., Reynolds, C. A., & Gatz, M. (2001). Age-related differences and change in positive and negative affect over 23 years. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 136–151. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.80.1.136
Debreczeni, F. A., & Bailey, P. E. (2021). A systematic review and meta-analysis of subjective age and the association with cognition, subjective well-being, and depression. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 76, 471–482. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaa069
Diener, E., & Chan, M. Y. (2011). Happy people live longer: Subjective well-being contributes to health and longevity. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 3, 1–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2010.01045.x
Fiske, S. T. (2017). Prejudices in cultural contexts: Shared stereotypes (gender, age) versus variable stereotypes (race, ethnicity, religion). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12, 791–799. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617708204
Garaigordobil, M. (2014). Sexism and empathy: Differences as a function of sociodemographic variables and relations between both constructs. In A. M. Columbus (Ed.), Advances in psychology research (pp. 59–80). Nova Science Publishers.
Gerstorf, D., Ram, N., Mayraz, G., Hidajat, M., Lindenberger, U., Wagner, G. G., & Schupp, J. (2010). Late-life decline in well-being across adulthood in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States: Something is seriously wrong at the end of life. Psychology and Aging, 25, 477–485. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017543
Gignac, M. A. M., Davis, A. M., Hawker, G., Wright, J. G., Mahomed, N., Fortin, P. R., & Badley, E. M. (2006). “What do you expect? You’re just getting older”: A comparison of perceived osteoarthritis-related and aging-related health experiences in middle- and older-age adults. Arthritis Care & Research, 55, 905–912. https://doi.org/10.1002/art.22338
Hox, J. J., Moerbeek, M., & van de Schoot, R. (2017). Multilevel analysis: Techniques and applications (3rd ed.). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on prevention of mental disorders, Mrazek, P. J., & Haggerty, R. J. (Eds.). (1994). Reducing Risks for Mental Disorders: Frontiers for Preventive Intervention Research. National Academies Press (US).
Jura, M., & Kozak, L. P. (2016). Obesity and related consequences to ageing. Age, 38, 23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-016-9884-3
Kite, M. E., Stockdale, G. D., Whitley, B. E., & Johnson, B. T. (2005). Attitudes toward younger and older adults: An updated meta-analytic review. Journal of Social Issues, 61, 241–266. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2005.00404.x
Kotter-Grühn, D., & Hess, T. M. (2012). The impact of age stereotypes on self-perceptions of aging across the adult lifespan. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 67, 563–571. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbr153
Kotter-Grühn, D., Kornadt, A. E., & Stephan, Y. (2016). Looking beyond chronological age: Current knowledge and future directions in the study of subjective age. Gerontology, 62, 86–93. https://doi.org/10.1159/000438671
Levy, B. (2009). Stereotype embodiment: A psychosocial approach to aging. Current Directions in Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/2Fj.1467-8721.2009.01662.x
Levy, B., & Banaji, M. R. (2002). Implicit ageism. Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons (pp. 49–75). MIT Press.
Levy, B., & Myers, L. M. (2004). Preventive health behaviors influenced by self-perceptions of aging. Preventive Medicine, 39, 625–629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2004.02.029
Levy, B., Pilver, C., Chung, P. H., & Slade, M. D. (2014). Subliminal strengthening: Improving older individuals’ physical function over time with an implicit-age-stereotype intervention. Psychological Science, 25, 2127–2135. https://doi.org/10.1177/2F0956797614551970
Levy, B., Slade, M. D., Chang, E.-S., Kannoth, S., & Wang, S.-Y. (2020). Ageism amplifies cost and prevalence of health conditions. The Gerontologist, 60, 174–181. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gny131
Levy, B., Slade, M. D., Kunkel, S. R., & Kasl, S. V. (2002). Longevity increased by positive self-perceptions of aging. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 261–270. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.2.261
Levy, B., Zonderman, A. B., Slade, M. D., & Ferrucci, L. (2009). Age stereotypes held earlier in life predict cardiovascular events in later life. Psychological Science, 20, 296–298. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02298.x
Montepare, J. M., Farah, K. S., Bloom, S. F., & Tauriac, J. (2020). Age-Friendly Universities (AFU): Possibilities and power in campus connections. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 41, 273–280. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701960.2020.1726744
Montepare, J. M., & Lachman, M. E. (1989). “You’re only as old as you feel”: Self-perceptions of age, fears of aging, and life satisfaction from adolescence to old age. Psychology and Aging, 4, 73–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.4.1.73
Nelson, T. D. (Ed.) (2002). Ageism: Stereotyping and prejudice against older persons. MIT Press.
Nelson, T. D. (2011). Ageism: The strange case of prejudice against the older you. In R. L. Wiener & S. L. Willborn (Eds.), Disability and Aging Discrimination: Perspectives in Law and Psychology (pp. 37–47). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6293-5_2
Nelson, T. D. (2016). Ageism. Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination (2nd ed., pp. 337–353). Psychology Press.
Nesselroade, J. R. (1991). Interindividual differences in intraindividual change. Best methods for the analysis of change: Recent advances, unanswered questions, future directions (pp. 92–105). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10099-006
Nosek, B. A., Banaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (2002). Harvesting implicit group attitudes and beliefs from a demonstration web site. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 6, 101–115. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2699.6.1.101
Officer, A., Thiyagarajan, J. A., Schneiders, M. L., Nash, P., & De La Fuente-Nunez, V. (2020). Ageism, healthy life expectancy and population ageing: How are they related? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17, 3159. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17093159
Piazza, J. R., Charles, S. T., Sliwinski, M. J., Mogle, J., & Almeida, D. M. (2013). Affective reactivity to daily stressors and long-term risk of reporting a chronic physical health condition. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 45, 110–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-012-9423-0
Prieler, M., Kohlbacher, F., Hagiwara, S., & Arima, A. (2015). The representation of older people in television advertisements and social change: The case of Japan. Ageing and Society, 35, 865–887. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X1400004X
Rubin, D. C., & Berntsen, D. (2006). People over forty feel 20% younger than their age: Subjective age across the lifespan. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13(5), 776–780. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193996
Sargent-Cox, K. A., Anstey, K. J., & Luszcz, M. A. (2012). The relationship between change in self-perceptions of aging and physical functioning in older adults. Psychology and Aging, 27, 750–760. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027578
Sin, N. L., Graham-Engeland, J. E., Ong, A. D., & Almeida, D. M. (2015). Affective reactivity to daily stressors is associated with elevated inflammation. Health Psychology: Official Journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 34, 1154–1165. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000240
Stephan, Y., Caudroit, J., & Chalabaev, A. (2011). Subjective health and memory self-efficacy as mediators in the relation between subjective age and life satisfaction among older adults. Aging & Mental Health, 15, 428–436. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2010.536138
Suls, J., & Bunde, J. (2005). Anger, anxiety, and depression as risk factors for cardiovascular disease: The problems and implications of overlapping affective dispositions. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 260–300.
The Gerontological Society of America. [GSA] (2021). Age-Friendly University (AFU) Global Network. The Gerontological Society of America. https://www.geron.org/programs-services/education-center/age-friendly-university-afu-global-network. Accessed 23 Aug 2021.
Turner, J. R., Mogle, J., Hill, N., Bhargava, S., & Rabin, L. (2021). Daily memory lapses and affect: Mediation effects on life satisfaction. Journal of Happiness Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00481-3
Vickers, K. (2007). Aging and the media. Californian Journal of Health Promotion, 5(3), 100–105. https://doi.org/10.32398/cjhp.v5i3.1256
Weiss, D., & Lang, F. R. (2012). “They” are old but “I” feel younger: Age-group dissociation as a self-protective strategy in old age. Psychology and Aging, 27, 153–163. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024887
Westerhof, G. J., & Barrett, A. E. (2005). Age identity and subjective well-being: A comparison of the United States and Germany. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 60, S129–S136. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/60.3.S129
Westerhof, G. J., Miche, M., Brothers, A. F., Barrett, A. E., Diehl, M., Montepare, J. M., Wahl, H.-W., & Wurm, S. (2014). The influence of subjective aging on health and longevity: A meta-analysis of longitudinal data. Psychology and Aging, 29, 793–802. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038016
Wurm, S., Warner, L., Ziegelmann, J., Wolff, J. K., & Schüz, B. (2013). How do negative self-perceptions of aging become a self-fulfilling prophecy? Psychology and Aging. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032845
Funding
This work was partially supported by the NIA (grant number R01AG062605 to JM) and the VA Office of Academic Affiliation Advanced Fellowship in Health Services Research (to CM; Center of Innovation in Long-Term Services and Supports, Providence VA Medical Center). The funders had no role in study design, analysis, interpretation, or preparation of the manuscript.
This study uses publicly available data from the MIDUS study. Since 1995, the MIDUS study has been funded by the following: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network and the NIA (grant numbers P01-AG020166 and U19-AG051426).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics Approval
Data collection in the MIDUS study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Wisconsin. All procedures, including the informed consent process, were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 and its later amendments.
Consent to Participate
Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the MIDUS study.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Turner, J.R., Hill, N.L., Bhargava, S. et al. Age Discrepancies Across Two Decades: Desiring to be Younger Is Associated with Daily Negative Affect Over Three Waves of Assessment. Prev Sci 24, 901–910 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-022-01386-0
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-022-01386-0